Early Easter Ham---Glad I'm Doing It Today, GMG Problems

[mneeley490]

My grandson's birthday happens to fall on Easter (tomorrow) this year, so I'm prepping in advance of his party. (Mine is in a few days, so had I a few Easter birthdays, too.)

Got a 9.5 lb spiral ham and thought I'd give Jeff's maple syrup & rub recipe a whirl. Thanks for the video, Jeff!
Got it prepped, and into the GMG Daniel Boone at 225°, with a welding blanket on top, because it's 49° outside and a little windy. Can't remember who came up with this, but I'm using a modified tube pellet smoker, so thanks for the idea on that! It's working great!

The problem came about 30 minutes into the smoke. I have a multi-prong Solis remote thermometer, and it was telling me that the smoker temp was dropping rapidly. So I plugged in another probe to make sure the first one wasn't failing. One in the front of the rack and one in back. They were both within a few degrees of each other, but were showing the temp going down to 170°. I could hear the fan going, so I immediately thought the auger was stuck or shot, but I cranked up the thermostat to 350° anyway. After a couple minutes the temp started going up again, and now it's back to 225° and holding, even though I still have the GMG set at 350°. So now I'm thinking the GMG thermostat may be the problem.

 

[bigfurmn]

Hopefully all goes well, the ham looks like it’s off to a good start.

 

[mneeley490]

According to my thermometer, the temp inside the GMG was traveling up and down about 60 degrees over the course of the smoke. But I kept an eye on it, and it still turned out pretty good. I may have to contact GMG about getting a new rheostat, or whatever it is.

 

[bauchjw]

That’s a bummer, but came out looking awesome’! I’ll take that for Easter! Great job!

 

[mike243]

Looks really good but where did you have your smoke tube setting in relation to the thermostat? it may have affected it

 

[JLeonard]

Great looking ham. Happy birthday to the grand and early Happy birthday to you! Think maybe the wind was getting into the cooker and messing with the temps?
Jim

 

[tx smoker]

Sorry to hear about the issues but glad it came out well. Ham looks pretty tasty.

Robert

 

[mneeley490]

Looks really good but where did you have your smoke tube setting in relation to the thermostat? it may have affected it

Hmm. Now that you mention it, it was close to it. It shouldn't have been putting out more heat than the firebox. But that's certainly something to consider. Guess I'll have to try setting elsewhere next time and see what happens.

 

[chopsaw]

Ham looks like it came out great . Nice job being on top of things too .

I think Mike's on to something .
Run without the tube and see what happens , then add the tube and see if things change .